Impact of Earthquake on Tourism Sector in Nepal
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IMPACT OF EARTHQUAKE ON TOURISM SECTOR IN NEPAL Shiba Prasad Rijal* ABSTRACT This paper aims at highlighting the impacts of catastrophic Gorkha earthquake of April 25, 2015 on tourism sector of Nepal and is based on secondary data collected through literature narratives from published and unpublished sources. The 7.6 magnitude earthquake struck a large part of central Nepal and heavily affected the tourism business and livelihoods based on tourism. The overall economic loss due to the earthquake was equivalent to US$ 7 billion, and the disaster effect on tourism sector was estimated at 81241 million, 11.5 percent of total. Of the total amount, 76 percent represents the value of destroyed physical assets, and 24 percent reflects the losses and higher costs of production of goods and services arising from the disaster. The impact of earthquake was clearly observed on tourist arrival. The inbound tourist arrival was below pre-earthquake levels even after nine months of the earthquake, and fell to a six-year low in 2015. The impact of earthquake on economy and livelihoods was enormous. The overall economy was almost paralyzed for a long time. The recovery and the development of tourism business are closely tied with the reinstating of important tourism infrastructure and facilities. Key Words: cultural heritage, earthquake, economy, gross domestic products, tourism infrastructure, livelihoods, tourism business. INTRODUCTION Tourism comprises the activities of persons traveling to and staying in places outside their usual environment for not more than one consecutive year for leisure, business and other purposes (WTO, 1999 cited in Gautam, 2011). It is one of the largest industries of Nepal in terms of employment, sources of foreign exchange and revenue and has remained an integral part of Nepalese economy since many years. Natural disaster with catastrophic consequences can have serious effects on tourism for obvious reasons as it destroys the natural environment and the things which the industry relies on. The catastrophic earthquake (7.6 * Dr. Rijal is Reader in Geography Education at Central Department of Education Tribhuvan University, Kirtipur, Kathmandu, Nepal. 184 IMPACT OF EARTHQUAKE ON TOURISM... magnitude) of April 25, 2015 and subsequent numerous aftershocks (four aftershocks were greater than magnitude 6.0, including one measuring 6.8 of May 12, 2015) have severely struck the central parts of Nepal. The earthquake heavily impacted the tourism business and livelihoods based on tourism in Nepal. The impact of earthquake in tourism business is clearly observed throughout the world. Tourism sector in the Canterbury region of New Zealand was heavily impacted due to earthquake of 2010 as 70 percent of operators reported a decline in international visitor arrivals to their business after the earthquakes of 2010. Orchiston, Vargo and Seville (2012) claimed that tourism data showed below pre-earthquake levels even after eighteen months of the earthquakes in this Canterbury region. Likewise, Murakami, Kawamura and Suzuki (2012) reported that the earthquake and resulting tsunami directly affected the international inbound tourism in Japan. The number of foreign visitors to Japan suffered a great decline compared to the previous year. World Travel and Tourism Council (2012) has also stated that the impact of earthquake was significant on Japanese Travel and Tourism. Japanese travelers remained at home and international visitors stayed away, international inbound arrivals fell by 62 percent in April 2011 over the same months in 2010 (Zibanai, 2014). ISDR (2001) also reported the impact of earthquake on tourism of Turkey. Tourism of Turkey was heavily impacted by the earthquake popularly known as Izmit earthquake of 17 August 1999. The earthquake affected an area of 31,250 square kilometers and one-third of Turkey's population. As estimated by the World Bank, the loss of earthquake in tourism sector was 200 million dollar and income tax related loss was around 32 million in 1999. Besides, the earthquake has created major economic and social problems in other related sectors too. Likewise, Tourism sector of Andaman and Nicobar Islands of India was severely affected by the earthquake induced Tsunami in 2004 (UNESCO, 2006). The number of tourists visiting this destination sharply reduced after the earthquake. It is claimed that the lives of the low-income communities involved in tourism have reached at ‘pause’ stage and the tourism industry will never be exactly the same again, as some of the Tsunami-induced changes were irreversible. The contribution of tourism sector in Nepali national economy is significant and this sector was badly impacted by the devastating earthquake of April 25, 2015 and subsequent aftershocks. The present TRIBHUVAN UNIVERSITY JOURNAL, VOLUME. XXX, NUMBER 2, DECEMBER 2016 185 paper aims at highlighting the impacts of earthquake on Nepalese tourism business and livelihoods associated with tourism. The first section of this writing presents general overview regarding the earthquake and associate loss/damages due to earthquake in different parts of the world and also deals with study methods and materials. The subsequent section provides general features of Nepal and highlights on spatial extent and damages of the earthquake. The third section discusses is the role of tourism in terms of trend of tourist arrival, contribution of tourism on Nepalese economy and impact of earthquake on tourism business and livelihoods based on tourism. METHODS AND MATERIALS The present study is primarily based on secondary data and experience-based approach and employs literature narratives as sources of data. Relevant data were collected from published documents through internet search. Data regarding damages due to earthquake were acquired from Post Disaster Need Assessment (PDNA) report of the government of Nepal 2015. Likewise, information/data related to tourism were acquired from tourism statistics published by Department of Tourism, Government of Nepal. Tourist arrival data for the year 2015 was collected from online news publications. The analysis is based on both quantitative and qualitative assessments. The impact of earthquake on tourism is primarily assessed by comparing the trends of tourist arrival for nine months of two consecutive years 2014 and 2015 before and after the devastating earthquake. GENERAL FEATURES OF NEPAL Located in the central Himalaya in between China and India, Nepal covers an area of 147,181 square kilometers and as of census 2011 provides home for 26.6 million people. It is one of the poorest countries of the world. Poverty is acute, the population living below poverty line in Nepal accounts for 23.8 percent (GoN, 2015). The per-capita income (PPP) was US$ 1160 in 2014 (GoN and UNDP, 2014). Agriculture is the principal economic activity providing livelihoods to three-fourths of its population and accounting for 33 percent of the gross domestic products (GDP) in 2015 (GON, 2015). However, a large proportion of people rely their livelihoods on tourism and associated activities. Tourism, a major provider of employment, contributed a lot to foreign exchange earnings and revenue. The World Travel and Tourism (2014) claimed that the direct contribution of travel and tourism to GDP in 2013 was NRs. 68.8 billion (3.9 percent of GDP). Its total contribution to GDP and employment was 8.2 and 7.0 percent respectively. 186 IMPACT OF EARTHQUAKE ON TOURISM... The spectacular landscape, diverse and exotic cultures of Nepal represent considerable potential for tourism. Tropical to tundra type of climate found within a short north-south physical span of about 150 kilometers is also an asset of Nepal for the tourists of different climatic zones of the world. Its unique natural landscapes along with cultural beauties offer a wide scope of tourism activities. Nepal being a mountainous country, four-fifth of its land area is covered by hills and mountains and is characterized by complex geological structure. The sharp vertical landscape renders the country highly vulnerable and disaster prone due to its fragile geology and steep topography. As cited in National Strategy for Disaster Risk Management Report of Government of Nepal (2009), Nepal ranks 11th globally most vulnerable countries to earthquake. The middle zone of Nepal is believed to be sitting on high earthquake intensity zone. The Himalaya region is recognized as a young mountain system of the world and was formed by the collision of the Indian Plate with Tibetan Plate around 55 million years ago. The movement of plate is still on and the mountain building process continues from the collision and the mountain is still on making process (Dahal, 2015). Rapid growth of population, poor land use planning, haphazard settlements, and poorly implemented building code are the common features of Nepal which aggravate the impacts of earthquake. At the same time, Nepal has very limited capacity to cope with such catastrophic disasters due to low level of technological development and poverty. EARTHQUAKE, ITS SPATIAL EXTENT AND DAMAGES On Saturday, 25 April 2015 at 11:56 local time, a massive 7.6 magnitude earthquake as recorded by Nepal’s National Seismological Centre, struck Barpak of Gorkha district, about 76 kilometer northwest of Kathmandu. The catastrophic earthquake was followed by hundreds of aftershocks greater than magnitude 4.0 (NPC, 2015). Among them, four aftershocks were greater than magnitude 6.0, including one measuring 6.8 which struck 17 days after the first big one on May 12, 2015 with the epicenter near Mount Everest. The epicenter of main shock was at the depth of approximately 15 km (9.3 mile) below the surface (NPC, 2015). This is the most powerful disaster to strike the country since the 1934 Nepal-Bihar earthquake. The earthquake caused widespread damage in large parts of central Nepal covering 31 out of 75 districts. Out of the 31 districts, 14 were heavily damaged and another 17 neighboring districts were partially affected (Figure- 1). The catastrophic earthquake resulted in huge loss of human lives, physical TRIBHUVAN UNIVERSITY JOURNAL, VOLUME.